Influencial People

"We, the one's who are challenged, need to be heard. To be seen not as a disability, but as a person who has, and will continue to bloom. To be seen not only as a handicap, but as a well intact human being."
-- Robert M. Hensel

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
-- Mark Twain

I'd also like to add "and with which the mentally disabled can understand."

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As an educator to those with functional mental and physical disabilities, there are many people/beings whether real, fictional or fur covered that touch my heart and put life into perspective.  These are beautiful and kindhearted individuals that either do not let their disability hinder them in any way or individuals who go out of their way to help those with needs.  God Bless Them!
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Faith



Faith's mother wasn't exactly the mothering kind. She was literally terminating Faith's life because she knew instinctively that Faith was unable to battle the other puppies for a place to feed. Faith was weak, small, runtish, and mostly she was nearly dead.

Faith had 3 actual legs, but the left front leg was badly deformed, placed backward, upside down, and it had more toes on it than normal dog legs. The leg was removed when she was 7 months old when it began to atrophy. Faith's owners are constantly asked if it was easy to teach Faith to walk upright...the answer is NO! It was not easy, and it was not natural. It was SUPER natural, and therefore, we have to give all of the credit to Jesus. Of course, it took a little....Faith as well.

Sam

Sam Dawson has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He works at a Starbucks and is obsessed with the Beatles. He has a daughter with a homeless woman; she abandons them as soon as they leave the hospital. He names his daughter Lucy Diamond (after the Beatles song), and raises her. But as she reaches age 7 herself, Sam's limitations start to become a problem at school; she's intentionally holding back to avoid looking smarter than him. The authorities take her away, and Sam shames high-priced lawyer Rita Harrison into taking his case pro bono. In the process, he teaches her a great deal about love, and whether it's really all you need.

James "Radio" Kennedy

One afternoon at practice, coach Harold Jones and his fellow assistant coach Dennis Patterson noticed a young man mimicking everything they did.  He was an eighteen year old who could not read, write, or speak. Coach Patterson and Coach Jones befriended the young man with the promise of snacks and sodas.  This boy's love of music and his transistor radio earned him the nickname "Radio," and the rest is history.

Radio, otherwise known as James Robert Kennedy, began helping out with the team at practice and at both home and away games.  Slowly, but surely, he was accepted by the rest of the staff at Hanna and the community as a whole.  In the early 70's he started coming to the school and helping the coaches in the gym.  Coach Patterson took another job in a nearby town, and Coach Jones went on to become head track coach, head football coach and athletic director.  Radio continued to help with all of the athletic teams and was allowed to roam the halls, delivering notes to teachers and even sitting in on some classes.  Radio was always with Coach Jones on the sidelines and became loved by the entire town.

Rudy Favard 

A beautiful, shy and kind-hearted high school senior, Rudy is the Co-Captain of his high school football team with much to look forward to in his future.  But, for four nights a week at 8 pm he makes a short 10 minute drive over to a family's house to simply carry their young, 75 pound, severely disabled son Sammy with cerebal palsy, up a flight of 14 stairs to put him to bed.  Sammy's father had heart surgery and is no longer able to carry his son up the flight of stairs to put him to bed...Rudy does this for him now.  This simple act of kindness touched my heart.

Samuel Habib 

Before his son Samuel was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, photojournalist Dan Habib rarely thought about the inclusion of people with disabilities. Now he thinks about inclusion every day. Shot and produced over four years, Habib’s award-winning documentary film, Including Samuel, chronicles the Habib family’s efforts to include Samuel in every facet of their lives. The film honestly portrays his family’s hopes and struggles as well as the experiences of four other individuals with disabilities and their families. Including Samuel is a highly personal, passionately photographed film that captures the cultural and systemic barriers to inclusion.

Simon Birch

Simon Birch tells the story of Joe and Simon's heart-warming journey of friendship. Simon Birch was born with a condition that makes him much smaller than all the other kids in town. Now, due to his condition, Simon thinks God made him this way for a reason and highly believes in God. Together, Joe and Simon go on a journey of trust and friendship to find the answers to many things. Their friendship is put to the test when some unfortunate events happen.

Daniel & Carla

When Carla Tate, now a young woman, is 'graduated' out of the training school where she has resided for many years because she is mentally challenged, her hope is that she will be accepted for all that she can now do for herself. But Carla's family is wealthy which permits her mother, already blinded to her daughter's rather high-functioning abilities, to try and provide for Carla beyond her needs or desires, bringing forth the inevitable confrontations... for what Carla may lack in mental ability she certainly makes up for in her insistence on being independent, even to living in her own apartment. But if this isn't enough, into the mix comes a young man, equally challenged mentally, who moves Carla beyond anyone's control.

Jon

"The Teachings of Jon" is an insightful, soul-touching and funny documentary about the filmmaker's brother Jon, a 40-yr old man, severely and profoundly affected by Down Syndrome. He has an IQ of 20, doesn't talk and earns less than $13.00 a year. Although Jon may never accomplish much in this world, he has an important purpose here; to teach. "The Teachings of Jon" follows the journey of a family, and how the "family secret" locked away in an institution for the first 7 years of his life became the powerful silent teacher of kindness and reverence. This documentary shows what it's really like to take care of someone like Jon in heart-warming detail. Jon's parents, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist share how having Jon catalyzed a complete change of values and how he taught them about good mental health. The siblings share what it was like growing up with a brother with severe mental retardation.